Re: Closing in on us

Posted by Hal/WA on August 21, 2003 at 19:56:30 from (216.64.132.89):

In Reply to: Closing in on us posted by Bring back the country, o on August 21, 2003 at 14:00:03:

I know what you mean, but can you blame someone for subdividing property into 10 acre "farmettes" when it is almost impossible to much more than break even farming that property? In my area, many of the farms are being subdivided and, like you say, city people move out here and build nice houses and try to change things.

I recently talked to a woman at a "citizen's advisory committee" meeting of the local fire district. She explained that she and her husband had bought 10 acres and had downsized into a new house in the country, as their children were grown. She then said that this year the land was being farmed by the farmer who had sold them the land, but their plans were to let the land go back to native grasses and were not going to pasture it or do anything to it. Now that land has probably been farmed for about 100 years and is good cropland. What I see happening is that they will get 10 acres of weeds (and the most popular ones are Canada thistle, Knapweed and Jim Hill Mustard. I bet their neighbors are going to love that! Oh and of course, she is one of the people on the committee that wants to make our fire department all paid at much higher tax rates.....

In my area they did a bunch of zoning over the last 20 years. Much of the area has a 10 acre minimum parcel size to get a building permit. But only a little farther out, the minimum parcel size is 40 acres. I think this is really dumb and really shafts the property owners. People who might be able to afford to buy 10 acres at a certain price per acre could never afford 40 acres at the same price per acre. So the farmer's land is effectively devalued by the government. On the other hand, 40 acres is much too little land to justify owning much machinery and really farming the ground. I envision a bunch of 40 acre weed patches and a bunch of retired farmers with a lot less money than they should have had.

One innovative solution that I have heard of is the way one farmer has subdivided his ground. As I understand it, he has right in the contracts that the property that the buyers are not using for their homes and are carefully maintained must be farmed at a reasonable lease rate to a local farmer. On that ground, I see a number of new houses spread out, but between them, there are productive grain and hay fields. Apparently this is working: the former farmer is having a good retirement, the current farmers are doing well enough that they continue to farm the ground, and the buyers get to have their new houses far enough apart for some privacy while the surrounding ground is taken care of and consistantly looks neat. Time will tell how well this arrangement will work over time, but in the relatively short term of about 10 years, it looks like a pretty good arrangement.

I grew up on the ground I now live on. My Dad began subdividing our land in the 60's and sold the last of it about 1985. I grew up poor, but my parents had a reasonably affluent retirement because of my Dad's investments and travelled the world in their old age. I have one corner of the former property--two 10 acre parcels. I have done all my development on one of the parcels and might some day sell the other one, if I have to. But it is nice to know that no one can move any closer than they are now unless I allow them to. Now I don't like all the additional people around here, and the higher taxes, more restrictions, higher crime rate, reduced freedom, etc, etc, etc. But that's progress.....and I can't change it almost at all.

Follow Ups:

Post A Followup Name: E-Mail: Subject: Re: Re: Closing in on us Comments: Optional Link URL: Link Title: Optional Image URL: Email Notification: If you check this box, email will be sent to you whenever someone replies to this message. Your email address must be entered above to receive notification. This notification will be cancelled automatically after 2 weeks.

TRACTOR PARTS	TRACTOR MANUALS

We sell tractor parts!  We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]